W-P survives 2nd half comeback vs. Evart

By Brent BakerSunrise Sports

Posted
9/30/08

WHITTEMORE-PRESCOTT - Oct. 4, 2008 - Whittemore-Prescott built a big lead in time to celebrate its homecoming at halftime on Friday, then held on to take a 53-33 victory over Evart that was crucial for keeping the Cards' playoff hopes alive.

W-P ran up a 32-7 halftime lead, which included scoring two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the half, and was never seriously threatened despite being outscored 25-21 in the second half.

"With homecoming and all of the events going on, the guys played with a lot of excitement," said W-P coach Kevin Frederick. "That was a good football team we beat tonight. Our line played well and that allowed us to do a lot of things offensively."

W-P led 12-0 after one quarter thanks to a 3-yard run by Matt Ackerman and Austin Swanson's 16-yard pass to Dylan DeBoever.

Evart scored early in the second quarter to cut it to 12-7, but the cards scored 20 straight points to break the game open. Tristan Kohlhoff's 14-yard pass from Swanson opened up an 18-7 lead, and Sean Leathorn made it 25-7 with a 1-yard plunge with 1:49 left in the half. After W-P got the ball back, Swanson scored on a 37-yard run with 30 seconds before the half.

Each team scored twice in the third quarter, with W-P reaching the end zone on a 28-yard Swanson-to-Billy Raushi pass and Ackerman's 39-yard run.

DeBoever's 1-yard run made it 53-25 with under four minutes left before Evart scored on a long run in the final minutes to cut the W-P lead back to 21.

Ackerman finished with 165 yards rushing on 20 carries as W-P racked up 355 yards on the ground on 49 carries. Swanson completed 11-of-14 passes for 150 yards and three scores. Kyle Saunders caught five passes for 54 yards and Raushi added four catches for 60 yards.

On defense, Kohlhoff was in on 13 total tackles and had an interception, with Raushi adding 12 tackles and an interception and Leathorn, Tommy Miracle and Chris Downes adding 10 tackles apiece.

W-P improved to 4-2 and needs to win two out of three -- against Alcona, Montrose and Tawas -- to clinch a playoff spot. All three of those teams are in a similar position to the Cards, with either 3-3 or 4-2 marks heading into the season's stretch run.